Swans spreading bird flu into Europe

BERLIN — Migrating swans have spread a lethal strain of avian flu into several European nations in recent days, and experts predicted it was probably only a matter of time before the virus is carried across the continent by migrating birds.

Germany confirmed Wednesday that two dead swans found on the island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The virus originated in Asia and has jumped from birds to infect at least 165 human beings worldwide, killing 91, according to the World Health Organization.

In the past week, dead swans that tested positive for the virus have also been reported in Austria, Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

The virus was previously detected in Romania, Croatia and Ukraine. And health officials in Poland, Denmark and Hungary announced Wednesday that they were checking dead swans to learn whether the infection has spread to their countries as well.

"The virus is here," said Dr. Lutz Guertler, a microbiology professor at the University of Greifswald in northern Germany. "We still don't know how this virus is dissipated or what the infection rate will be, but it is here, without question."

So far, the virus has been confined to wild birds in Europe, although there are fears it could easily infect flocks of chickens or other poultry. That could put human beings at higher risk, since most people who have contracted the flu have become infected through close contact with live chickens. Health officials say cooked poultry is safe.

Several European countries, including Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, announced new measures ordering poultry farmers to confine their birds indoors in an attempt to prevent contamination.

Meanwhile, European Union epidemiologists and health officials met in Brussels to discuss ways to confront the outbreak. They said they would spend more than $2.2 million this year to test thousands of wild and domestic birds throughout the 25-member union.

Experts worry that if the virus mutates, human beings could become more susceptible and a global epidemic could result. Although no one in Europe has been reported infected by the H5N1 strain -- the closest cases have occurred in Turkey, all from contact with dead chickens -- there were signs that people were getting jittery.

In Macedonia, President Branko Crvenkovski was confined indoors for three hours by security agents after a dead eagle fell from the sky and landed in his garden, according to media reports Wednesday in Skopje, the capital. Tests later showed the eagle did not die of the flu.

In Italy, sales of poultry plummeted as shoppers took no chances. At Vittorio Latella's Select Meats shop in Rome, a single forlorn chicken and a pan of breasts remained in the poultry refrigerator, while the meat section was full of hamburger, T-bone steaks and veal chops.

"You are the first person in two days to buy chicken," Latella told a customer. "I don't know if I will replace these pieces when they go bad."

Health Minister Francesco Storace has sought to reassure Italians that chickens are safe. Nonetheless, since the weekend, Italian poultry sales declined by 60 percent, according to the National Poultry Union.

"This is all because of a flu that doesn't exist in our farms," said Aldo Muraro, the union's president. Muraro estimated that 30,000 poultry workers out of a total of 180,000 have been laid off since bird flu first arrived at the edge of Europe last fall.

In Germany, grocers said they had yet to see a steep drop-off in poultry sales but were already trying to educate customers about the relative risks.

At Rogacki, a large gourmet shop in Berlin, shoppers crowded the store but mostly avoided the poultry section, despite a stack of fliers explaining how chicken and eggs were as safe as ever to eat.